Romeo and Juliet
Then and Now
By Tyler Harris
In Verona, an ancient grudge continues to throw new mutinies and violence between the Capulets and the Montagues. Through bad luck, Romeo and Juliet, the young descendents of those two prominent families fall in love at first sight. Believing that this holy relationship will end the feud, they decide to stay together, get secretly married and defy their own fate that will finally lead to their tragic death. However, this death succeeds in making their love become the most known romance that the first, present and future generations will ever hear about.
For countless generations after William Shakespeare concocted his masterpiece titled Romeo and Juliet, society had a hungry itch to revolutionize it. One film was created in the late nineteen sixties and was directed by Franco Zeffirellis. This film has some powerful scenes, but it had a few weak performances. One of society's recent attempts to recreate Shakespeare's play was directed by Baz Luhrmann, which has very dramatic, effective scenes, powerful motifs and symbolic imagery. This film also contains very rich music that builds drama and suspense at just the right moments.
Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, which was done in nineteen-sixtynine has some very effective scenes that add to the overall quality of the film. One of which is the opening scene and it shows people fighting and running around in the streets of Verona in the midst of a bloody fray. This scene effectively portrayed that which William Shakespeare would have wanted to portray; it showed how this family feud between the Capulets and Montagues affected not just the two families, but more importantly, how it affected society and the entire city of Verona.
Mercuito's violent and intenseQueen Mab? speech was an overall very powerful performance. John McEnery played the part of Mercutio and did a fantastic job of putting feeling and emotion into his performa...